`Tick Tock' Stirs Postal Suspicion, But Palmer Parcel Isn't A Bomb

A suspicious package with "Tick Tock" written on it created a stir at the Palmer Township Post Office yesterday.

Postal officials called police, who called the bomb squad and the fire department.

The package contained only personal items, but postal officials and police said they were taking no chances.

Ron Pacchioli, window superintendent at the Palmer facility, said authorities were called around noon after someone dropped off a package with no postage and the same mailing and return address.

The package would have normally been delivered, postage due, but the words "Tick Tock" were written on it. Township Police Chief Charles Lutz said authorities tracked down the sender and had her come to the post office. The young woman opened the box that was going to her ex-boyfriend, Lutz said.

No charges are expected to be filed against the woman, whom police didn't identify.

Business at the post office was not disrupted because the package was in a secure location, Lutz said. "It was out of the way of the people if anything did happen," he said.

"Anything that draws any suspicion to us, we take no chances on," Pacchioli said. "We don't jeopardize our employees if we don't have to."

There promises to be another commotion at the postal facility today, but no suspicious packages will likely be involved. The long-awaited Elvis Presley stamps are due to go on sale at noon nationwide, and an Elvis impersonator is scheduled to be on hand.